NATO member statesâ€™ defense officials are strongly opposed Turkeyâ€™s deal with a Chinese firm to co-produce its first long-range anti-missile system. They desribe the Chinese systemâ€™s incorporation into NATO as a â€˜virusâ€™ while Turkish officials asserted the system would be NATO-operable

The US Patriot air defense system, which is seen in the southwestern province of KahramaraÅŸ, is one of the systems competing for Turkeyâ€™s long-range anti-missile and air defense systems. DHA photo

Defense officials from NATO member states have described any potential Turkish effort to integrate China-made long-range air and anti-missile defense system into NATOâ€™s overall air defense architecture as a â€œvirusâ€ within the allied system and a â€œpossibly most futile effort.â€

A NATO ambassador in Ankara said Turkey was disillusioned with the idea of making the Chinese-built air defense architecture NATO-operable. â€œI have no idea why the Turks do not see the simple fact that the allianceâ€™s security threat perception in the next 20 years is based on China. Air and missile defense will be the top defense issue in the foreseeable future, with China being under the magnifier.â€

According to Western defense officials and analysts, the central problem will be the difficulty to connect the proposed Chinese air defense assets to NATOâ€™s critical Identify Friend or Foe (IFF) system that operates on â€œMode 5,â€ a code that enables allied radar systems and aircraft to recognize whether an unknown aircraft is friendly or an enemy.

â€œTurkey has its own efforts to build the transponder part of the entire IFF system, but a fully functioning system would require the interrogator part too. To make the Chinese system NATO-operable, the Turks would require Mode 5 codes and I see no reason why the [U.S.] National Security Agency should give a nod to this crazy idea,â€ said one U.S. defense official.

Top Turkish officials said the controversial air and missile defense system Turkey intends to buy from a Chinese manufacturer would be automatically integrated with NATO assets stationed in Turkey.

Turkish officials see no problem

When asked about possible NATO objection to the idea of any such integration, Turkish Defense Minister Ä°smet Yilmaz said â€œhe sees no problem with this.â€

Murad Bayar, head of the Undersecretariat for Defense Procurement, said full integration with NATO assets was an explicit condition in the contract for the planned air defense system.

â€œAs part of this program, a Turkish defense company will be tasked with integrating the air defense system into a network operated by the Turkish Air Force. That integration will mean integration with NATO assets, too, since the Turkish system is fully integrated with the NATO system,â€ Bayar said.

The much-debated Chinese bid from China Precision Machinery Export-Import Corp. (CPMIEC), which won the tender Sept. 26, came in at $3.44 billion; the initial contract price was estimated at $4 billion.

The Chinese contender defeated a U.S. partnership of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, offering the
Patriot air defense system; Russiaâ€™s Rosoboronexport, marketing the S-300; and the Italian-French consortium Eurosam, maker of the SAMP/T Aster 30.

Under the program, dubbed T-LORAMIDS, Turkey will start contract negotiations with CPMIEC, the front-runner of the competition. If these talked fail, contract negotiations with the Eurosam consortium, the second best offer according to a grading of bids, will begin, according to Bayar. The U.S. Patriot system was ranked third. Bayar said the Russian option had been eliminated entirely.

Turkeyâ€™s own technological capabilities for air defense integration looks limited. Recently, a Turkish military software and electronics firm, Ayesas, failed to integrate about 14 Turkish radars into NATOâ€™s Air Command and Control System. The job was later given to NAMSA, NATOâ€™s procurement agency for allied requirements.

â€œWhether the Chinese air defense system can detect any ballistic missile coming from the enemy remains a big question mark,â€ a European defense analyst said. â€œWithout tracking information coming from a NATO-U.S. radar like the X-band system in KÃ¼recik, the Chinese system may either not detect a ballistic missile at all, or detect it when it is too late.â€

Turkish officials say the primary function of the proposed air defense architecture would be air defenses, with an anti-missile defense coming as secondary.